Best Suspension Trainer Reviews 2019

Referred to as “Rope Training” in the 1880’s, suspension training is a form of exercise that uses your own body weight to create resistance and allow you to perform literally hundreds of exercises. A suspension trainer is a great addition to both your home gym and commercial gym setup, and enables you to execute a wide range of multiplanar exercise and compound exercise movements to greatly improve your balance, flexibility, strength, and joint stability. Owing to their increasing popularity, the fitness market is flourishing with a plethora of suspension trainer models, which can leave you confused when shopping for the right one for your exercise regime. So, to ease what can literally be a daunting shopping experience, we’ve rounded off 5 of the best suspension trainers available to you, each with a mix of features and price and of course their respective pros and cons.

Overview

PROS

CONS

SPECS

Type

Capacity

Support

Warranty

Weight

Our Top Choice

TRX Suspension Trainer Basic Kit

TRX has been in the suspension strap market for over 20 years now and its products are used by professional trainers and military service members.

It's effective at weights of up to 350 pounds and backed by a one year warranty. It comes with suspension and door anchors and a 35 page full training workout guide.

It doesn’t come with a door mount.

Suspension and Door anchored

350 pounds

35 page book, 65 min DVD

1 year warranty

1.6 Pounds

Best Value

CoreX Battle Suspension Strap Trainer

CoreX is an American and Australian organization whose mission is to provide superior quality fitness equipment and programs at highly affordable prices.

It’s designed to fit all battle rope sizes and can be attached almost anywhere. Includes a metal battle rope anchor and a heavy duty battle rope anchor strap kit.

Metal anchors may bend if maximum weight capacity exceeded.

Wall mount

Heavy duty

31 page training booklet

12 month limited warranty

Info unavailable

Lifeline Jungle Gym XT Suspension Straps

Lifeline has been an industry leader in the fitness space for over 40 years, and continuously develops superior training tools that help you keep up with your fitness game.

It’s ideal for both novice and seasoned athletes. It comes with a Duro-Link™ connection strap and an instructional download.

It doesn’t come with rotating handles

Door/wall mount

Heavy duty

Wall chart/downloadable video

6 month warranty

2.9 pounds

Sports Authority BodyFit Suspension Trainer

Dick’s Sporting Goods is a fortune 500 company that was founded in 1948. They offer a large variety of high quality sporting goods, including many under its newly purchased Sports Authority brand.

It mounts to doors and bars so it doesn't require any drilling; it allows you to target and sculpt every major muscle group; it’s highly affordable.

It doesn't come with a warranty.

Door Anchor

Unlisted

Instruction guide, Training DVD

No Warranty

4.23 pounds

Stack 52 Suspension Exercise Cards

Stack 52, which was founded by Mike Volkin and Kurt Boyd, was featured on ABC Eyewitness News and makes a wide range of workout equipment cards to boost your fitness game.

Shows 52 bodyweight exercises designed for TRX, WOSS, or Ritfit suspension trainers. Can be played singly or in a group.

Small size of cards sometimes makes figuring out exercise descriptions and diagrams difficult.

How Do I Choose the Best Suspension Trainer?

What is the most functional, portable, versatile and user-friendly fitness training tool? Hint — it’s also possibly the least expensive and mostly just consists of a couple straps! Answer — the suspension trainer. If you aren’t familiar with this kind of strength training system, they’ve recently received a surge of appeal and have quickly become a mainstay in home and commercial gyms across the world ever since their inception by a US Navy Seal over a decade ago. Unlike recumbent exercise bikes, upright exercise bikes and exercise balls that are geared towards strengthening your abdominals, obliques and other lower body core muscles, suspension straps rely exclusively on gravity and your body weight for resistance to work out all the muscles in your body safely and effectively. Read our suspension training buying guide below to learn what to look for in the best suspension straps and trainers for your exercise regimen.

Price

Prices for suspension trainers vary, but for the most part they’ll depend on the quality of the respective model and the features it offers. Speaking of features, it’s best not to go all out and invest in an exotic piece of equipment that’ll just gather dust or suspension straps you’ll never ever use, but neither should you just go for the cheapest one in the store, which may not have all that you need for the best experience. For example, a cheap suspension trainer may not come with an instructional DVD to guide you through your workouts, a feature that comes standard with the better suspension strap training systems.

To give you a ball park figure of what you’ll be looking at, suspension trainer prices can range between $30 for a basic model that’s probably good for a few different types of exercises to over $100 for a top of the line model that allows you to take your exercise game to a whole new level.

Features

Although most suspension trainers are similar in appearance, where you’ve got some buckles, a pair of webbing straps, and a couple of foot straps, there are a few features that can mean the difference between a model that’ll allow you to perform a wide range of dynamic exercises safely and effectively or a suspension trainer that’s poorly made and will probably do more harm than good.

Comfortable handle grips — given that you’ll be gripping the handles with your legs and feet, buy a suspension trainer that’s outfitted with soft, ergonomic and preferably slip-resistant handles

Quality of anchor(s) — suspension straps are designed to be used literally, but it’s important to have high quality mounts or anchors so that they attached firmly to a ceiling, wall, gym equipment or tree. But you should also ensure that they attach without leaving marks on the attached object

Support — since suspension straps are fairly new to the fitness arena, you should invest in a model that comes with some level of support whether that be a downloaded instructional DVD or booklet

Portability — one of the biggest perks of suspension trainers is the superior portability they offer so check out models that are easy and compact enough to haul around and setup quickly

Construction and Design

Suspension trainers are a great way of leveraging bodyweight exercises, and are generally compact and lightweight, making it easy to tuck them away in a backpack, suitcase or trunk of your vehicle. The best suspension trainers are typically crafted from high quality nylon webbing and arrive complete with plastic buckles and foam covered PVC handles. In order to connect the trainer to a solid sturdy door, wall or tree, you’ll need to have the appropriate support, which usually arrives in the form of anchors and mounts.

Performance and Ease of Use

One of the noteworthy features that make suspension trainers a hit among fitness enthusiasts is the superior portability they offer. They can be put up anywhere, whether it’s a wall mount, beam, door frame or vertical pole. Further, they offer great versatility to mimic specific movements of most sports and train most body parts, making it an all-rounder in the fitness training space. Before getting started with your suspension trainer, it’s important that you read the instructions carefully in order to secure it properly. When hooked on properly, the suspension trainers must be able to support your own body weight, so it’s always wise to test them with a few mighty tugs to get a feel for how they’ll hold up. Suspension straps allow you to perform a myriad exercise from overhead squats all the way to gymnastic training, and most come with an instructional DVD detailing several exercises just in case you run out of your own ideas.

What is the Best Suspension Trainer?

It’s evident — suspension training straps offer a unique workout experience that is perhaps unlike anything you’ve ever done before! They’re a great way to supercharge your muscles, and work more fibers with each move you make. Furthermore, suspension straps increase the total challenge of a workout without adding strain on your joints, which is especially great for individuals at a high risk of joint pain or other related ailments. They’re an ideal choice for both novice and seasoned fitness enthusiasts, given that they offer the ability to perform a wide range of exercises including pull-ups, push-ups, jackknife prone crunches, tricep dips and anywhere both indoors and outdoors. However, buying the right model to match and exceed your fitness goals can be a tricky affair, considering the myriad of options available. But now that you’ve read our detailed suspension trainer buying guide, you should be well equipped with the information you need to spot the best training tool from our top 5 options, so let’s get right to them!

Our Top Choice

The TRX Suspension Training Basic Kit with door anchor and full body workout kit gives greater results in less time than traditional workouts. Don't want to be anchored down? Check out the TRX Go Suspension Trainer; it weighs merely a pound so you can take it anywhere you like!

TRX Suspension Trainer TF00160

Features

TRX has been providing quality high endurance suspension training products for over 20 years and offer a wide variety of suspension straps and anchors for your home and professional needs. Its products are tried and tested and have a proven track record for being more effective in less time than traditional workouts, which is why they’re used by professional trainers and military members alike.

The TRX Suspension Training Basic Kit is black and yellow and comes with the suspension trainer, a door anchor, a mesh bag, a 35 page guide, a 65 minute training DVD, and 2 bonus workouts. It can be used in suspension or anchored in a doorway and can effectively handle up to 350 pounds. The suspension system weighs a total of 1.6 pounds and comes with a 1 year warranty in the event of any manufacturing defects. It’s extremely easy to setup and use, and the manufacturer claims it can be out of the box and ready to use in less than one minute.

The CoreX Battle Suspension Trainer comes with a wall mount and can be attached almost anywhere. If you’d like to buy a resistance training tool that attaches firmly to gym equipment, gym sticks and resistance bands, the CoreX Resistance Trainer is perhaps a better fit. The package includes dual molded CoreX SpinFree handles, ankle straps for leg and ab exercises and a training booklet to guide you on the right track.

CoreX Suspension Trainer — Grey + Strap

Features

CoreX is one of the leading names in the fitness training arena and manufactures a wide range of superior quality products including balls, bodyweight training, gym sleds, kettle bells, dumbbells, hammers, vests, harnesses and belts.

The CoreX Battle suspension trainer comes with a metal belt rope anchor, and a heavy duty battle rope anchor strap kit. It can be attached almost anywhere and features heavy duty, commercial quality webbing.

The CoreX Battle suspension trainer is worthy of our #2 spot for several reasons including:

Available in 7 different variants

One strap measures 25” long and other 17” long, and both are 1.5” wide

The Lifeline Jungle Gym XT suspension training tool is a great choice for working out your pecs, triceps and biceps and also leg muscles with lunges and curls. However, if you’d like to exclusively build lower body strength, the Lifeline Lateral Resistor is worth a look. It improves balance by targeting underperforming muscle groups, and is fixed with a 3-in-1 cable pocket that can accommodate up to 3 interchangeable resistance cables.

Lifeline Jungle Gym XT with 2 Suspension Straps and Easy Wipe Handles

Lifeline Suspension Trainer LLJGXT

Features

Lifeline has been in the fitness space for over four decades, and is one of the few brands that continuously develops innovative training tools that set the gold standard in professional grade products geared towards bodyweight, functional and variable resistance training.

The JUNGLE GYM XT Suspension Trainer boasts a split anchor design and is a great choice for strengthening both upper and lower body muscles. It’s designed for both novice and seasoned fitness enthusiasts and comes with everything you need to get started, including an easy to follow instructional download and poster.

The JUNGLE GYM XT suspension trainer takes center stage with a wide range of features including:

The Sports Authority BodyFit Suspension Trainer is a highly affordable suspension training device that's easy to setup and use. Looking for an alternative home training and exercise equipment? Check out this padded plank ab station! It’s also ideal for numerous other body exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups.

Sports Authority Suspension Trainer 33791221

Features

Dick’s Sporting Goods, inc is a sporting equipment manufacturer that provides all sorts of exercise and sporting equipment. They were founded in 1948 and bought the rights to sports authority on June 30th 2016. The Sports Authority Bodyfit Suspension Trainer is an excellent portable and easy to use suspension trainer.

The Sports Authority Bodyfit Suspension Trainer is extremely affordable and comes in a black and red color scheme. It comes with two adjustable straps, a foot attachment for lower body exercise, an instruction guide, and a personal training DVD. It weighs a total of 4.23 pounds and is meant to be anchored to the top or bottom of a door frame before being used. The only downside to this suspension strap is that it doesn't come with a warranty.

The Suspension Exercise Cards by Stack 52 details 52 of the best bodyweight exercise and is designed to be used with leading suspension straps including TRX, WOSS, or Ritfit suspension trainers. If you’d like to up the ante in your fitness regime by performing a wider range of exercises, you probably can’t get any better than the Stack 52 Exercise Card Gift Box Set, which teaches you 208 exercises!

Stack 52 Suspension Trainer Card Game — Suspension Base Deck

Features

Founded by Mike Volkin and Kurt Boyd, Stack 52 designs and manufactures a wide range of visually appealing and highly effective exercise cards that motivate you to perform several different types of exercise. Some of them include barbell, bodyweight, dumbbell, stretching and suspension exercises.

So, you may be confused why our fifth product is not a suspension trainer but a pack of cards. Well, these cards go hand in hand with the suspension trainers featured in this review. The Stack 52 Suspension Exercise Cards allows you to create awesome workouts in just a few seconds and can be played either by yourself or in a group. It’s one of the easiest ways to learn exercises since all you have to do is simply scan the QR Code to learn the exercise.

This deck of Stack 52 suspension trainer cards comes with several great features including:

Get the Best Suspension Trainer of 2019!

Suspension trainers offer a wide range of health benefits, and we hope that with the information provided and our top 5 selections you were able to determine the best training tool for your needs. If you’re still on the hunt, there’s plenty of others on offer from these terrific brands!

Our Top Choice

TRX Suspension Trainer Basic Kit

Best Value

CoreX Battle Suspension Strap Trainer

Lifeline Jungle Gym XT Suspension Straps

Sports Authority BodyFit Suspension Trainer

Stack 52 Suspension Exercise Cards

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